I was surprised at how fun Warriors are to play. I mean, they have no spells per se, no healing, are entirely dependant on gear – but they can also be completely disruptive, formidable opponents on the battlefield. And the joys of Charge are visceral and deep; rushing across the field to stun your opponent, closing the gap in the blink of an eye, is a heck of a lot of fun.

I rolled a Warrior a bit on a lark; I knew I had the heirlooms for one, having outfitted a DK and Paladin earlier. I was a little bored with rolling humans, so I picked a dwarven lass with red braids and a long ponytail. And because I was feeling especially whimsical, I named her Cynderblock. Obviously not her dwarven name, Cynderblock had all the right connotations for an unstoppable tank while following my Durotan naming convention. I don’t go with non-realistic names very often, but for a twink I can usually justify it to myself. In this case, it’s a custom from her clan to not reveal their true names to non-dwarves.

Hey, that works, right?

So I’ve had an absolute blast playing Cynderblock in both the leveling bracket of WSG, where she has topped some damage charts since level 12, and PuG tanking some instances for gear, which is OMG SCARY for a DPS/PVPer like me. I have tanked on my Druid before, but it was always with friends and guildmates. Tanking with a PuG is an entirely different ballgame. In some ways I’m glad that I’ve frozen my experience, so that I can really get to understand how to use the abilities I have in some detail. I saw this on my DK, Cynwulf, who was an awesome tank at level 59 because I knew exactly what abilities did what and how to use them to keep the group alive. Frozen XP gives you time to really learn the abilities you have.

I’m really glad I’m on Twitter, because all you have to do is admit your own cluelessness about a class and you can have experienced experts give you advice right away. I like playing my Warrior, but I don’t know a lot about tanking, so I asked and got the following advice:

Charge

Thunder Clap

Demo Shout for AOE threat

Stack Sunder Armor (tab-sunder-tab-sunder)

Heroic Strike when you have > 30 Rage

Thunder Clap liberally

Taunt when needed

Mocking Blow for the OH SHIT moments

Shield Bash for spellcaster interrupts

I was pointed to the excellent So You Want To Be A Prot Warrior guide over at Panzercow’s blog, which is going into my bookmarks now. Yessss… a clue, I have it! I cannot wait to get into the DF queue tonight and start running for some gear! (First up, Deadmines, because I need the Chausses of Westfall.)

Right. I know that I started off saying I was going to be twinking for WSG, but … c’mon! Dungeon Finder! Tanking Deadmines and SFK! It’s fun too!

…

You’re not buying it, are you?

Oh well. Yes, I like tanking. I enjoy setting the pace of the group and being the one in the center of attention. Twinking isn’t just about PvP, though it is often about it — it’s about playing as best as you can at a certain level of play, and that includes PvE too. There’s no reason I can’t have the best of both worlds.

A nice surprise was in the Satchel of Helpful Things: the Earthbound Girdle of the Champion, with +5 Strength, +5 Stamina, and +5 Defense Rating. I think the …of the Bear might be better for WSG (+6 Strength, +6 Stamina). One of the reasons I want to run a lot of instances is for the great cloak and belt options available with the random dungeon, so I can try out different stat combinations.